The compliance gap most self-managing landlords don't know they have.
Most landlords think their compliance is in order—until a small oversight causes a big problem. One missed document or expired certificate could affect your legal position. When did you last check that everything is fully up to date?
Everything Feels In Order. But When Did You Last Actually Check?
A landlord came to us a couple of years ago after a really frustrating experience.
He had always been careful. Gas certificate done every year. Deposit protected. Tenancy agreement in place. He thought of himself as a responsible landlord and he was right to, in a lot of ways.
Then he needed to serve a Section 21 notice on a tenant he needed to move on.
The notice came back as invalid.
Not because of anything recent. Because of something he had missed at the very start of the tenancy. A document he had not been required to serve when he first started renting out property but which had since become a legal requirement. Because it was never served, his accelerated possession route was gone.
It took him four months longer than it should have. In a property he was not receiving full rent on.
He was not a bad landlord. He just did not know what he did not know.
The honest truth about lettings legislation
The list of things a landlord is legally required to do has grown considerably over the past ten years. And it keeps growing.
EPC. Gas safety certificate. Electrical Installation Condition Report. The How to Rent guide and the correct current version of it which changes. Deposit protection. Prescribed information. Smoke alarms. Carbon monoxide detectors. Legionella risk assessment.
Miss any one of them at the wrong point and your legal position changes. Sometimes significantly.
The challenge for a self-managing landlord is that staying on top of all of this, on top of a job and a family and everything else, is genuinely hard. And unlike a late rent payment, compliance gaps are invisible until you need to act on them.
How we handle it at Harrisons
Compliance is built into everything we do. We have a process for every tenancy start. Every required document gets served. Every certificate gets tracked. When something is due for renewal, we are on it before it expires.
We have eight property managers in our team at the Newbrook Road office. Keeping on top of this for hundreds of properties is what they do every day. Our landlords do not have to think about it because we are thinking about it for them.
Your action point this week
Go through the compliance file for every property you manage.
Can you evidence that every required document was correctly served at the start of each tenancy? Are all certificates current? Is your deposit admin fully in order?
If there is any uncertainty at all, it is worth getting sorted now rather than finding out the hard way.
Legislation keeps moving and it is genuinely hard to stay on top of it alongside everything else. If you want a free compliance check across your properties, get in touch. It costs you nothing and it could save you a lot. Call 01204 659670, email katie@harrisonsnet.co.uk or visit harrisonsnet.co.uk.
Here's to your property success!
Katie
Harrisons Estate Agents
01204 659670 | katie@harrisonsnet.co.uk | harrisonsnet.co.uk